Call of Mobius
by FaZeMLGDoritosMtnDew420BLaZeiT
Summary: A tale of humanity. In the year 2155, the most important mission in the history of mankind took place. A mission to end the famine, suffering and carnage of humanity. To find another home, beyond our solar system. Another world awaits the crew of the ISS Colombia, Kepler-682f, a world of mystery.
1. Authors Notes

Authors notes:

There please keep in mind this is a work in progress. Originally, I was only going to do four chapters, however, I decided to flesh it out a bit more. So far, I'm about a third of a way through the story. I'm working on some videos that are based on this world. I'm working on them in parts. The total amount of footage I recorded was about ninety minutes. Part one should come out soon.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

 **Awakening**

 **War.**.. War never changes. Since the dawn of time, man has sought ways of ending eachothers lives. For gold, for grain and for gods. The rivers have ran with blood for nearly every reason imaginable. Despite the bloodshed and carnage that has persisted for nearly four thousand year, mankind still prospers. That is, until now.

In the year 1976, the forces of the South Vietnamese and United States army crushed the communist North Vietnamese. Tensions rose between the USSR and the UN and in 1984, things finally boiled over. The third world war began and would be fought for nearly eighty years.

The outcome of such a war was obvious and in 2053, the first and last nuclear bombs fell on human civilization. The world was bathed in atomic flames and nuclear radiation. Our oceans, tainted with radioactive fallout, our fields scorched to stone and our cities shaken to rubble.

Though this was not the end of the world as many had predicted, it was instead just another bloody chapter in human history. The broken governments quareled over the last drinkable water and arable fields for decades to come, millions would succumb to starvation and tribal conflicts. It was not until 2140, that humanity had finally healed. This is where we begin our journey, this is humanities last redemption

 **Diary of 1st Sg. RET. Frank Owlson, 33rd Anti-Radiation Squad 'Rooks', 2154**

They've taken me to some kind of underground hangar. Apparently they want me to fly what they call "the most important mission in human history". I call bullshit on that. What they really want me to do is fly some kind of experimental space plane or something. I'm supposed to take it up into orbit and meet up with some kind of ship. They say from there I'll be up in space for two weeks when they fly out to Mars where I will attempt to survey the landscape and return. To my knowledge, the damn thing hasn't been tested. They told me the simulators showed "promising results". I don't trust computers. Now I assume this space ship has some kind of new engine considering they told me the trip was only was only gonna take three weeks at most. I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure it takes for than a few weeks to get to Mars. They are withholding all of the information until I agree. Honestly, I've got nothing to lose at this point, so why not. You only live once.

 **END LOG...**

 **Diary of Capt. RET. Johnson Frakes, AFS 'Potemkin' Pacific Class Nuclear Submarine, 2151**

I've been contacted by spacemen, who want me to fly their magic spaceship to some star lightyears away. These lunatics have been hounding me for the past month and a half, begging me to pilot their space machine. Apparently they want me because of my "experience commanding a crew and surviving in confined spaces for months at a time". So you know what I told them? "Beam me up scotty! Cause I'm not leaving my house for you people!" Hah! I had a good laugh afterwards. But you know what else? They kept calling, and calling, and calling! It was driving me to insanity! So you want to know what told them then? "Fine."

 **END LOG...**

 **Diary of Robert Lutess, Quantum Physicist, University of Dunkirk, 2116**

A while back, I went ahead and watched an old film called 'Interstellar'. And you know what? It struck a spark in my mind. "What is the feasibility of creating a worm hole?" I pondered this question. Of course, the answer was in quantum mechanics if no place else. Given my experience with said topic, I went ahead and created a hypothesis, which was later promoted to a theory and now, as I record this, I am peering through a small device, watching myself make a recording whilst peering through a small device.

 **END LOG...**

 **Diary of Julian Kintober, Mechanical Engineer, University of Dunkirk, 2116**

The old man is a fool! The ESA called last month and wanted a working prototype of Dr. Lutess' 'wormhole generator'. They offered fifty billion Euros for it! And you want to know what he said? "No". I've decided to take matters into my own hands. I built his prototype, the design is mine, he theory, his. Design trumps theory in a patent. In layman's terms, I'm selling the design. He was a fool, and he will get nothing.

 **END LOG...**

 **2155, Present day**

"What have I gotten myself into?" is what I thought to myself after mission control told me "frank, you have left the stratosphere, proceed with standard orbital insertion". The Earth is beautiful from up here, the ruined cities aren't visible from this altitude, the ocean is a gorgeous blue, and the clouds swirl like one big giant whirlpool. The corruption and slander from our governments cannot be felt through the black coldness of space. It's like a shield, nothing can get you up here, no vulture of the law can reach through to me, no judge can lay justice, no gallows hang high enough to reach this place of bleak serenity. It is a place of pure peace, a place of absolute freedom. Not even gravity can hold me down! But I must focus on the task at hand. I am two minutes away from the Colombia.

"Atlantis, you are clear for docking" said the flight controller

"Copy that."

I moved closer to the large ship, with every meter the vessel appeared larger and larger, truly an awe inspiring sight. The docking clamps were in sight, I moved in closer. "Thud" went the large magnetic clamps as they attached to the docking ports on the top of the plane and pulled it into the hanger in the belly of the ship.

"All clamps attached, closing hangar doors"

"Alright, the crew tunnel is in place you are clear to open the airlock, be careful, you will experience a sudden gravitational change so keep your body in the correct position."

As I exited the shuttle I suddenly felt very heavy, I was unprepared and fell flat on my face. Greeting me at the other end was Captain Frakes.

"Evening sir!" I regained my posture and saluted him.

"At ease Sergeant" said Frakes with a calm voice.

"Now I was under strict orders not to brief you until we are under way. I'm certain you've studied the layout of this vessel well. But incase you've forgotten, here is a map. Head on down to your quarters and make yourself at home, dinner is at 1700 hours. We will be underway at around 0100 hours. Meet me on the bridge for briefing at 0500"

"Odd" I thought to myself. Wasn't I already briefed on the ground before I took off? Something seemed fishy.

"Yes sir" I said to the captain.

"Dismissed"

The mess hall was certainly something of luxury. Wooden paneling, a bar, a pool table, television and even a high ranking chef preparing the food! They certainly had a blank check for the commodities of this vessel. I had a chance to meet my fellow crewmates, there were twenty of them in total, not counting myself, security, the staff and the officers. Most of them have are of naval origins, specifically the captain, who had commanded a nuclear submarine during the resource wars. In fact, at least a third of the crew served on that same submarine. Most of them had been up here for nearly a year as they were slowly ferried from the surface. Indeed, the atmosphere of the ship was calm. It felt less like a mission and more like a vacation.

At around 2200 hours I decided to set unpack my things in my quarters. I was pleasantly surprised to see I would not be bunking with the other crewmen. I had my own room. In it were a double bed, a television, a private bathroom, mini refrigerator, adjustable lighting and environmental controls, and a digital porthole to look into space. The bed felt just like the ones I would find in hotels. Everything about it was perfect. Too perfect, but who cares? I fell into a deep sleep, dreaming about flying over the martian surface, making history. Along with it came an anxiety, a natural response to a daring experience.

It was 0400 hours, when my alarm clock began blaring at me. I got up and washed myself, grabbed a small snack from the fridge and proceeded to the bridge for briefing. When I arrived we appeared be slowing down.

"Reporting for duty sir!" I said, while saluting the captain.

"At ease sergeant"

"Alright" said the captain. "I'm sure most of you have been weary of the mission. Some of you have even had your doubts, and rightfully so. I have been ordered to brief you on the true nature of the mission after we have reached the safe zone."

"Safe zone?" I thought to myself.

"First and foremost is the destination of this mission. We are not going to mars. We are traveling to a distant star system known as Kepler 682. There is a planet there that the Federation and Republic have been interested in. According to astronomers, it is very similar to earth. Our mission is to scout the planet and collect as much data as we can. That is where you come in sergeant, you will be the first one to survey and possibly land on this planet."

A surge of sharp anxiety and overwhelming joy passed through my body. I would be the first human to land on an exoplanet. I would be in the history books!

"Now I know what you are thinking, how do we get there? Kepler 682 is 40 light years from here. Getting there with convention rockets would take tens of thousands of years. Well, we are not using conventional thrusters; this ship was designed around an experimental 'jump drive'. It works by creating a passage through a higher dimension to the intended target. Any number of things could wrong, which is why we needed to get a safe distance away from earth. We will be making history, this is the most important space mission in the history of mankind. Hopefully, this will pave way to a brighter future."

"Engage jump drive" said the captain, pointing at the navigator

"Aye sir" said the navigator.

A bright flash of light appeared in front of the ship as two brilliant beams converged. Suddenly, the light of the stars began to swirl around some kind of hole. The hole wasn't black; you could see a stars and nebulae on the middle of this hole. It's peculiar yet astounding appearance was novel. The ship began to approach the hole. It grew in size as we got closer, allowing me to see the inside of it much more clearly. Finally we entered the wormhole.

The stars became streaks of light as we entered the hole. The sight was horrifyingly magnificent. Stars, galaxies and nebulae appeared stretched and warped on the walls of the tunnel. Everything was rushing past us like traffic on a motorway. Suddenly, the tunnel walls began to become wider. An exit became visible, of the stars looked normal again, we had reached the end.

"Alright, everyone return to your posts, Bergman, check the distance between us and the planet."

"Approximately 0.8 astronomical units. A one week journey."

"Very good, plot a course for Kepler 682-f, and establish a geocentric orbit once we arrive."

"Aye sir." Said the navigator.

I returned to my quarters, awaiting further instructions as ordered. I kept thinking about home, specifically, how far away it was. If we were to get stranded and sent a signal, nobody would know for decades. The implications of space travel sank in. I couldn't stop thinking about what was out there, or rather, what isn't out there. But I have to keep calm. I can't let anything; especially not my emotions interfere with my duties.

We had finally arrived at the planet, the final preparations were being made, the last of the fuel and cargo had been loading into the storage bay on the shuttle. I was sitting in the cockpit. My heart began racing as the hangar doors opened and the shuttle was lowered away from the ship. The magnetic clamps detached. Once again, I was on my own.

"Alright Colombia, I am clear, proceeding to initiate de-orbiting procedures."

"Roger that Frank, good luck down there." Said the flight controller

"Colombia, you wouldn't mind running another telemetry check would you?"

"Sure thing frank, all systems check out. You are clear to proceed." Said the flight controller

"Roger that, thank you"

The surface of the planet was not unlike earths. It was green in some areas, sandy in others and contained a vast blue ocean. There was no sign of civilization; the planet seemed to me in some kind of Permian period.

As I approached the atmosphere the shuttle began to shake. Flames began to form around the bottom of the shuttle. After a minute, I began o slow down to about 800 kilometers per hour, a calm cruising speed. The landscapes were vast and covered in vegetation. If one looked close enough, they could see small avian creatures flying about.

Everything was fine until the mission controllers and I made a shocking discovery.

"Frank, do you have a visual on the structures east of your current position?"

"Structures!?" I thought to myself. I turned my gaze to the east and to my surprise, there was a city.

"Colombia, should I take a closer look?"

"Yes, but proceed with extreme caution." Said the flight controller

I changed course so that I would be flying over the city. I looked down into the camera and saw ruins of what may have been a once great city. Roads and blocks covered at least 2 square kilometers of land. I zoomed in to see vehicles, sidewalks and even benches lining the streets.

"Colombia, do you see what I see?"

"Confirm, we have a visual on the city, over."

Not only am I the first person to fly on an alien world, I am the first person to confirm the existence of other life in this universe. But then it hit me. Why was this city in ruins? War? Natural disasters? Any number of things could've leveled this city. Perhaps these creatures are a lot like us. Could they have destroyed themselves? And if so, could we suffer a similar fate as well?

I left the city behind and began following what appeared to be some kind of carriageway. Everything was fine until mission control began frantically calling me.

"Frank, get the hell out of there now! Proceed to standard orbit and await further instructions!"

"Colombia what the hell is going on? What's wrong?"

"You have an unidentified aircraft approaching you fast, at 211.6, 6.3km out"

I looked and saw a black fixed wing aircraft moving towards me at high speeds.

"Roger that I have visual on the aircraft, over"

"Frank, take evasive action and proceed to orbit!"

I pushed the engines as hard as they would go, I was approaching Mach 7, but the aircraft did not break off.

"This guys not letting up! Approaching Mach 8!"

"Pull up and leave the atmosphere! Proceed to orbit! Frank, get the hell outa there!"

Suddenly, alarms began blaring in the cockpit, I looked down and saw a warning 'MISSILE'.

"Frank! You've got a missile on your tail!" yelled the frantic flight controller.

"Deploying countermeasures! Shit, they're not working. It's still on my ass!"

I banked hard and pulled up. All of my blood began rushing to my feet. My vision began to decay, sound was starting to fade. The only sound I could hear was the computer screaming "OVER G! OVER G! OVER G!" The last thing I remember hearing at that point was a loud bang and blaring alarms followed by the piercing sound of tearing metal and then… silence.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

 **OPFOR Unknown**

 **Morning glow** shined through the thick branches of the forest blinding me as I slowly opened my eyes. The smell of burning wood, oil and steel permeated the air. The trees were not as alien as one may expect, they were a calm green color and had many soft pines lining their small branches. As I regained my senses, I looked up, and saw my parachute caught in the tree tops, I looked down, and saw the ground nearly fifteen meters below me. It occurred to me that I was in a rather undesirable situation. But no matter, my training in the Federal Air Force prepared me for this. I carefully climbed up the chute until I could grab the branch it was caught on. Then, I shimmied across to the stump, cut the chute and carefully lowered myself using a line of backup paracord. The ground was covered in grass and other foliage. Many of them had flowers blooming from them, some had a full spectrum of colors covering the heads. The dirt was an off red color, as if it contained alot of clay.

I thought to myself, "Enough sightseeing! I've got to find the Atlantic and reestablish comms with the Colombia!"

I followed the smell of burning fuel until I came upon the Atlantic crashed into a small river. The wings had completely sheared off, however the cockpit and fuselage were still somewhat intact save for a large hole where the missile had exploded. I managed to open the cargo bay with a prybar only to find that all of the contents had spilled out into the river and surrounding embankment. I opened the door to the cockpit and was hit with the smell of burn't rubber, all of the computer systems in the cockpit were completely burned in the fire. The blackbox however, was still intact, though, a blackbox alone will not have the capability of sending a message into high orbit, I still needed a longer antenna. I pulled the blackbox to dry land and set off to find a piece of metal to use as an antenna.

As I walked, I was shocked to find a waterfall at least two-hundred meters tall. At the bottom of the waterfall was a piece of metal that must have come off the Atlantic. I carefully descending to the bottom to retrieve this piece of metal. A closer look revealed that this was not part of the Atlantic, it was not the same material, it was far too heavy and had rust on the ends of it. Nevertheless, I set out back to the crash sight to try and set the blackbox working.

A few hours later it began to rain, so I moved back into the cargo hold of the Atlantic. It was dark, and holding a flashlight while jerryrigging a blackbox is no easy task. The rain hitting the roof of the plane was calming. Water rushed through a small hole on the bottom, indeed, the Atlantic was certainly living up to its namesake! As night began to fall, I finished my work and tried to power up the blackbox.

"Colombia, Colombia, do you read? This is Sergeant Owlson. Can anybody hear me?"

No reply, I fiddled with the knobs and received similar results. As midnight began to fall I started to lose hope. Just as I was dosing off, a voice could be heard coming from the blackbox.

"Hello, hello, can anybody read me?"

I fiddled with the knobs some more and the signal became clearer.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?" said a strange voice. "This is a secure channel, how did you gain access to this?"

"My name is Sergeant Frank Owlson, my plane crashed in the middle of the forest, I'm still alive and low on supplies and..." Suddenly, the signal became silent.

"Is anybody still here?"

There was no static, clearly the signal was working. The person on the other end must've either hung up or shut up. Who was this man? What is this "secure signal"? Where is this signal located? I pondered these thoughts until I made a shocking revelation. What if I had just contacted the people who tried to kill me? If so, they now know my position, and that I'm still alive. I began to become increasingly anxious. I knew nothing about the enemy, I knew nothing of my surroundings, I was alone and short on supplies, I had no where to run to.

Suddenly, I realized that the voice had been speaking fluent English, what alien would know how to speak the language of a civilization 40 light years away!? After realizing this, I assumed that this signal I had contacted was simply a reserved signal for the Colombia. I was getting closer, but I needed some sleep.

The next morning I had incredible pain in my left leg. I removed my trousers to find that most of my thigh had turned a sickly yellowish green color. I touched it and was overcome by a sore pain. Walking was difficult at the very least. I continued to test various signals on the blackbox. Hunger and thirst began to set in.

"Hello, is anyone here?"

A long moment of silence followed suit. I was ready to give up. I was ready to keel over and die. Suddenly,

"Hello, Frank is that you, this is the Colombia!"

"Colombia come in! The Atlantic has been completely destroyed and I am injured pretty badly.

I've got almost no supplies."

"Holy shit, how did you survive that? We looked at the crash sight through the scope and only saw a huge fire. We thought you were dead after we couldn't contact you." Replied the communications officer.

"Colombia, how the hell am I going to get off of this rock?"

A period of silence followed until it was broken by Captain Frakes.

"Frank, come in, this is your captain speaking." said Captain Frakes.

"Frank here, sir, how am I going to get back up to you?"

"You see that's the problem, we've already sent a message through a wormhole back to Earth, they said that they can get another ship with a couple of shuttles and weapons capabilities here in four weeks. However, as you discovered, there is a hostile force occupying this planet. Getting you off that rock will be no easy task."

"Sir, are you telling me I'm fucked?"

"No, I'm telling you that your going to have to improvise. You've got access to water and possibly food down there don't you?" replied the Captain."

"Sir, are you telling me to eat plants on an alien planet?"

"Yes" replied the captain bluntly.

"Okay, sure, but that still doesn't answer how you are going to get me off."

"Getting you off is our first priority, however, it is not the Federation's first priority. Look, we are taking enough risks as it is. If the Republic finds out about this mission they will certainly try and compete with us. Now, they may not notice an odd signal or even a missing ship or two, but if they see a large fleet moving through a wormhole, they are going to get curious. We need to do this discretely. Discretion takes time Frank."

"Sir, how long am I going to have to wait?"

"At least three months for our forces to assemble. Our mission was to scout this planet for colonization. We can't gather data while a hostile force is preventing us from operating. Frank, we still need to complete our mission." replied the Captain.

"Sir, what do you mean by colonize? I don't recall ever being briefed on that."

"You have been briefed on everything that could concern you, Frank. Now, we have done some surface scans and have discovered a series of high energy X-Ray lasers protecting the planet from bombardment. A secondary line of missile batteries have also been spotted, however they probably won't do much to us. As a result we had to move to a higher orbit. Frank, all you need to do is hide in a hole and not attract any attention to yourself. Just do what you did in survival training." replied the captain.

"Sir, I failed survival training."

The captain sighed at this remark.

"Frank, we've got to end the comms, our radio emissions present a security risk." said the Captain.

"Alright fine, Frank out."

My heart sank after our conversation ended. I collected myself and began scavenging for food. I picked every plant and shot every small creature I could find. As I walked back to the base camp, I heard a loud sound coming from afar. It sounded almost like a hypersonic jet. I hid myself in the brush as the sound got louder and closer. Suddenly, a large aircraft flew overhead blowing the tops of the trees. They were looking for me, I needed to leave, soon.

I prepared a small fire and began to cook the various edible looking plants. The meat of the smaller critters was terribly salty and smelled foul. The fruits I had collected were mostly bland, though one was incredibly sweet when cooked. I bit into a terrible bitter bean and my lips began to go numb, needless to say, I quickly spat it out. The water tasted silty, even after boiling it, and had a sulfuric smell. Though dinner was disappointing at best, it was fulfilling. The fire slowly began to burn out and I began to dose off into the night.

I was awoken by a sharp pain in my left thigh. It was a horrible, unbearable pain, it felt as if my leg was been put in a vice. I quickly removed my pants to find the muscles in my thigh were cramping up. To make matters worse, this was the leg that was injured. I could not stretch it, as the bruising made it too painful. I simply endured it, silently screaming until the cramp went away. After the cramp in my leg went away, a cramp in my stomach began to form. The pain was not as bad, however it certainly was not pleasant. A horrible wave of nausea hit me. I began heaving until I spewed a colorful blend of alien flora and fauna. The pain went away, and a terrible fever began to set in. I tried to go back to sleep only to wake up again with terrible pain in my bowels. Needless to say, the results were not pretty. Eventually, I was able to return to rest.

The morning was overcast and sultry. I checked my leg to find that it had turned a deep purple. Though unsightly, it meant that it was healing. I was still sore from the cramping last night. I emerged from the Atlantic to find a morning of utter silence save for the waterfall rambling in the distance. I took a small walk to familiarize myself with the area. As I was walking, I stumbled upon some sort of structure. I ran back to the Atlantic to retrieve the pistol I had been using before investigating the structure. I returned, and upon closer inspection, it appeared to be some sort of wooden cabin. The cabin had a small covered porch, inside was only one room with four windows on each side of the room. It looked as though it had been abandoned for quite some time. The room was totally empty, except for a small folded note placed in the corner. The paper looked new, perhaps this place has not been abandoned for as long as I thought. I unfolded the note to find a message written in two different scripts. One was English, the other was illegible. The note read,

"For whomever this may concern,

Tell Ryoko the stranger is still alive.

Regards, an old friend. SH."

The stranger this note referred to is obvious. They are referring to me, and they know I'm still alive. It's time to leave and get far, far away from here.

After I returned to the Atlantic, I began looking around for various staples before setting off. I gathers a good eight kilograms of food I assumed didn't make me sick last night and set off following the river east toward where I assumed the city was. The city seemed safe to me, more places to hide, and more importantly, more places to take cover in a firefight. Perhaps if I'm lucky, there will be supplies as well.

Kilometer after kilometer went by through the seemingly endless forest. Night began to fall, and I took refuge in a small ditch near the river. Building an open fire could reveal my position. So I went to sleep with an empty stomach.

Morning arrived and was bright and noisy with various birds and other creatures. The river was mostly silent as it was calmer here. I took a quick walk around the area to find some more edible plants. Afterwards, I set off, continuing my trek through the forest.

Things were mostly quiet, perhaps a bit too quiet. Every little sound could be heard. Every twig broken underfoot, every bushel blown by the breeze and every small critter would send me into anxiety. I gradually began to tune out these natural sounds and continue without anxiety. Suddenly, I heard a strange buzzing off in the distance, I didn't think much of it until it began to seem as if it was coming closer. I turned around to see nothing in the distance. As I walked the buzzing began to get closer and closer. Suddenly, a high pitched humming sound came from above. I looked up and was shocked to see some kind of drone looking machine hovering above me. It was quite large, roughly the same size as a human torso. It hovered without any sort of visible propeller or turbine. It's face had a single large camera lens surrounded by triangular fins that were hinged to to the main body. The rear of the drone was longer and had exposed wires underneath it. It didn't do anything to me except stare at me. I backed off, and as I did it held it's position. I quickly reached for my pistol and shot it dead in the lens, it quickly retreated soon after.

The humming I heard earlier grew in strength, suddenly, I large group of smaller drones began swarming at me. Each one had a spinning metal blade protruding from it's body. I ran as fast as I could, briefly slowing down to take shots at the horde. The drones were weak, as it only took one bullet from my pistol to bring it down. However, shooting them down proved to be futile at more of them kept coming. I ran for my life through the forest, desperately hoping they would stop chasing me. However, these were machines, and they were in a relentless pursuit to end my life. Suddenly, as I was frantically running, I came upon a four lane road. I ran up the road, hoping to find some sort of structure. I soon realized my error, as the drones began to pick up in speed since they didn't have to navigate around the trees. I began to grow exhausted from this constant running.

Adrenaline can only keep you going for so long. Just as I was about ready to collapse after running for over a hour, I stumbled upon some kind of small town. In the distance, were some apartment looking buildings and a crossroads. To my immediate left was some kind of single story office plaza, to my right were a couple of houses. I ran for the office building and retreated into a back room. I barricaded the doors with heavy metal cabinets. The drone pounded themselves into the door but were not able to make it through. After a few hours, they retreated. I quickly changed my location down the road to another single story office building. Similarly, I barricaded myself in a back room. While I still had the opportunity, I managed to scour a couple weeks worth of supplies from the nearby town. As night began to fall, I prepared a mattress on the floor of the back room. Holding my gun closely as I laid down. I was in it for the long haul.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **Attrition**

 **Darkness** is what I was greeted with upon waking up. The stench of rotting meat had permeated the air. I lit a small makeshift candle and proceeded to move a metal cabinet away from the single window in the room. The old wood creaked beneath my feet. The cabinets on this world are surprisingly heavy, I have no doubt in my mind that they could stop a bullet or two. The mattress I had been sleeping on was lumpy and uncomfortable, though I guess I can't complain, considering it's probably the only mattress left in this town. With the morning being calm, I figured I would try to explore my dwelling in a bit more detail. The room I slept in seemed to be some kind of records office. Toward the back of the room was a single wooden desk with four cabinets on the side. Excluding the metal cabinets I used for the window and door barricades, there were four cabinets, two upright and two for filing with four pullouts each. Inside one of the filing cabinets were a variety of documents ranging from payment to shipping orders. Each document was written in two different languages, English and an illegible script. Trying to decipher the script was of little priority to me.

In the right corner of the room was a door I had yet to open. Outside of the main door was a single hallway with a couple of larger office rooms containing cubicles. The desks were empty, however, they looked as though they originally had some kind of desktop computer. At one end of the hallway was some kind of reception lobby that had the door to the outside. The other end of the hallway had restrooms. Two different indecipherable symbols separated the two bathrooms. One could not tell which sex they were intended for, as the restroom layouts were identical. A small lounge was present near the end of the hallway, two refrigerator looking machines, one white, the other chrome with heavier looking doors occupied the space in the kitchen area. A small island counter was present about a meter away from the fridges. In the middle of the room was a table with a series of folding chairs.

There appeared to be some kind of television screen mounted on a table in front of a couple of armchairs, however, it would not turn on. A striking feature of the chairs is a hole at the base of the chairback. Each hole was about 18 centimeters in diameter. After seeing all there was to see in the rest of the building I proceed outside to dispose of the rotten meat I had been carrying. The surrounding town was of a familiar layout.

Various two-lane roads branching off the main road formed blocks. Down each street was an assortment of businesses and small houses. Down the road were a few six story apartment looking buildings. Further down the road was some kind of metal warehouse looking building. The architecture was brutalist in nature, thick unpainted concrete formed the walls and supports of each building. Sharp angles and rough blocks were the key features of the architecture. After seeing all there was to see in the immediate area, I quickly retreated to my dwelling.

As I sat down in the chair behind the desk, I looked over to the other door in the room. I remembered that I hadn't yet explored the room yet. As I opened the door, I was shocked to see a corpse lying next to a box of old documents. The corpse looked like it was fresh, it did not smell, it was not bloated and it had not decayed. Though, the most striking feature is that it was not human. The creature wore clothes. A dull off green short sleeved shirt and grey utility pants. I felt that the clothes were unnecessary, at the creature was covered in a coat of brown fur about three centimeters thick. It's face looked like that of a rabbit. It's ears were positioned at the top of it's head. Each one was about thirty centimeters tall. It's hands and feet were similar to our own.

From what I could tell, they creature was male, or at least whatever their equivalent is. I had a good idea on how it died, it looked like it had been shot in the chest by a very large or very hot projectile. Though this creature is dead, I still am the first human in history to demonstrably prove the existence of intelligent life. A morose sense of brief joy filled my body.

After satisfying my investigation, I proceeded to look inspect the rest of the room. The room was dark, as there were no windows to illuminate it. I took my makeshift candle and used it the light the rest of the room. To my surprise, there was some kind of terminal mounted on the back wall behind a small desk complete with a keyboard and console box. Various wires fed into a small box. I pressed a button on the box and the console and screen began to light up along with a fluorescent tube mounted on the ceiling. A variety of text based processes began to run onscreen, the strings were not in English and thus illegible to me. Suddenly, I was greeted with some kind of options menu. I could not understand what it was telling me, however I could tell it was presenting me with two different options. One was written in English, the word was "Solic". I pressed the key corresponding with that option, suddenly, the keyboard lit up to reveal another format, this time in English. The computer booted into a Linux-like OS system. There were a few basic programs on the desktop, a basic word processor, a calculator, some kind of internet browser that could not connect and a commandline program labeled 'COMMS'. I double clicked it, the terminal asked me for an alias. Jokingly, I entered my alias as "The Stranger". After hitting enter the program hung for a solid five minutes until taking me to another options menu.

"1 for HQ (main;ics)

2 for direct_signal (not recommended for SBOT nearby)

3 for direct_latlong (irrelevent to general FF forces, requires QCode)

4 for central_comms (encrypted, not need worry about wiretapping)

5 for RoBut (taunt channel, encrypted, have fun!)

6 to exit "

Options 2 looked like something I could use to communicate with the Colombia. Though, using it would probably be self-sabotaging. I'm not sure what an 'SBOT' is, and I do not intend to find out. My best bet would be to communicate with whomever is at Option 1 or Option 4.

Option 1 brought be to some kind of chat room, immediately, another user with the alias "Rotor W." asked me for my identification. I promptly disconnected from the channel. Back at the menu, I selected Option 4. I was brought to another chat room, this time a user named "FF Comm Operator23" asked me what I needed. I promptly disconnected. Whoever these people are, they probably aren't going to help me. For all I know, I could've just revealed my position to the enemy once again. For good measure, I powered down the computer and disconnected it from the power box. After exploring a small cabinet to the left of the desk, I discovered a small map looking document. After perusing the map, I was able to triangulate my position, I was fifty kilometers from the crash site and seventy kilometers from the big city. The text on the map was in the same illegible script as the rest of the documents. Once I was done, I carefully folded the map and put it in my pocket for future use.

At around noon, I decided I would try and bury the corpse in the back room. I searched around the immediate town block for some kind of shovel. I could only find what appeared to be a gravel rake. It took a solid two hours of plowing in order to get the right depth of for the body. I dragged the body out and rolled into into the grave. I then spent the next half-hour burying the body. I etched an epithet into a piece of wood that I found and mounted it at the foot of the grave. It read, "Here lies the corpse of the unknown. May heaven greet him graciously". As night began to fall, I retreated back to my dwelling and went to sleep.

Each day I would follow a similar routine: move the cabinets, go outside to relieve myself, eat breakfast, explore the nearby town for supplies and perhaps eat lunch along the way, check the town approaches for enemy activity, set up traps for small game, return to my dwelling, read miscellaneous documents for my amusement, eat dinner, barricade the doors and window, wait for nightfall, sleep. Each day was horrendously mundane, despite this, every time I would exit the dwelling or attempt to sleep, I would be overcome by a great sense of anxiety. I would constantly look over my shoulder expecting to see another horde of drones or worse. The only water I can found around here is from storm drains, which tastes much worse than the water from the river. Though, nothing could possibly compare to the absolute desolation of this place. For nearly three weeks, I had not spoken a word save for a few grunts here and there. I did still have the blackbox, however, considering what happened last time, I vowed to never use it unless absolutely necessary.

I began to hear voices in my head at night, some of them sounded like old friends, others sounded like family. They kept telling me that I needed to leave, that the Columbia was never coming back, that my only hope is to find peace in death. With each passing day, my will to live diminished. I am alone, far from home and surrounded by an enemy far stronger than I who will stop at nothing to see me dead. The situation is not grim, it is hopeless, and each hour I spend alive only postpones my inevitable end. But hey, I guess this is one hell of a place for me to die.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

 **Lost and Found**

 **"Frank…"**

"Frank… there?"

These are the words I heard while in a deep slumber. Given that I was not fully conscious, I assumed that I was still dreaming. However, the voice kept nagging me, "do.. read?", but I simply ignored it. Minute after minute this voice kept dribbling on, "Frank… come in…", eventually, I forced myself awake and let out a rigid response, "Will you shut the fuck up!". This proved futile, as the voice grew in intensity, "Frank… are… okay? What… happening…". I then realized that this voice was very real, and that it was coming from nearby.

"Hello, hello, this is Frank, where are you?" I said, while frantically looking for the source of the voice. After some looking, I realized it was coming from one of the cabinets. I opened the cabinet and found that the blackbox had been powered on.

"Hello, Colombia are you there? Answer me."

"This is… Colombia" replied the voice.

"Oh thank god. I had to change locations, I'm now…"

"Shut it… don't… position.. Signal untrace… but they are listen…" replied the voice.

"I can't hear you, try boosting your signal, the static is very strong."

"The encryption makes the signal weak… Frank there isn't… time… enemy knows you… need to move north… we have contact…" replied the voice.

The static began to grow. It was getting harder to hear what they were saying.

"Who is coming? How much time do I have?"

"Large… force… coming… south… oh, sixhundred... go… north to cit…" replied the voice.

"North to the city?"

"Affirm…" replied the voice.

"Colombia, how much longer do I have to wait?"

"We don't…" the voice was cut off and the signal went blank.

I moved the cabinet blocking the window to see what time it was. From what I could tell, it was almost the crack of dawn. I needed to move fast. I grabbed as much supplies as I could along with my pistol and map. I also spread as much paper, foamboard and flammable liquid as I could find around the office. I figured if I burned down the building they would think I died in some kind of accident. As I walked out, I dropped a small match into a bin filled with paper. The flames quickly grew in strength, engulfing the entire building within a matter of minutes. With the dirty deed done, I proceeded to head north to the city. The walk will be long and harsh, but it's my only and perhaps final hope.

After nearly an hour of walking I turned back to see the town in the distance, Kepler 862 lit up the sky with it's brilliant yellow light. The town was shadowed as Kepler rose behind it. Suddenly, about a kilometer back down the road, an explosion occurred sending debris everywhere and shaking the were here, and from the looks of it, they are trying to prevent me from leaving. I continued up the road at a hurrying pace. Every half minute or so, another salvo of explosions would occur between the first explosion and the town. They were trying to stop me, but they were too late.

After an hour of walking, a plane approached from the north. I took in the woods lining the road to prevent myself from getting spotted. The plane roared past, filling the area with the sound of it's jets. It then dropped a series of bomb looking objects onto the town. The bombs exploded, releasing a blue hued gas into the area. After the aircraft was clear, I proceeded up the road.

Night began to fall, and I took refuge in a small ditch half a kilometer off the road. Once again, I was without fire, meaning I would have to spend the night without any food. This night was not like the others though, this night was much colder. The cold was unbearable and my pilots jumpsuit could only provide so much warmth. At midnight, it was so cold I could see my breath as I exhaled. The temperature was no higher than 3* centigrade. On the bright side, since I haven't shaved my beard or hair in nearly a month, my face stayed warm.

Morning rose over the frigid landscape, though one could not easily tell with the overcast weather. The temperature was a bit better than last night, this time it was 7* Centigrade. After eating a couple of bitter but edible fruits, I went along my way, continuing up the road. I looked back at the town, which was about twenty kilometers away by now. Though it was hard to tell from this distance, I could make out some kind of helicopter-like vehicles hovering over the town. It seems that they still think I'm there. If they discover that I'm not, it is more than likely they will come looking up the road. I still have another fifty kilometers to walk before I reach the big city, meaning that if they come up this road, I'll be fucked.

"I just need to keep walking." I said to myself. "Just keep walking…"

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that they probably will finish their search within the next one to two days. If I keep at a walking pace, it will take me another four days to reach the city. If I'm going to get to the city before they catch up with me, I'm going to have to run the rest of the way. I began to pick up the pace, walking twice as fast as before. After a few moments, my fast paced walking became an anxious jog, which soon turned to frantic running. As I ran, I began to slip into a trance like state, everything seemed as if it was some kind of dream. I closed my eyes, and began to tune out everything as a ran faster and faster. I don't know how it happened, but as soon as I opened my eyes again, it was almost noon. I broke out of the trance and stopped for a moment to catch my breath. As soon as I sat down, I blacked out.

I woke to find myself in the middle of the road, I tried to get up and collect myself, as I attempted to stand, my legs went limp almost immediately. A terrible sore pain enveloped my legs making it impossible to move them. I tried to roll myself off of the road to better conceal myself. I checked my watch and saw that it was about 1120 hours, meaning that I had been running nonstop for nearly four hours. I tilted my head so I could look up the road, and what I saw was at the moment, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was the city. The city shared the same brutalist architecture as the town. Towering concrete structures made up the bulk of the buildings within the center of the city. The city was no more than half a kilometer away. I had made it, perhaps

I will get to live.

I limped my way through the vast streets of the city. The buildings, though dull, were remarkably tall. Most of them were at least seventy stories high. The streets were very wide, six lanes, three on each side. The sidewalks were three meters wide, and were lined with benches and streetlights. The city was unkempt, as it looked as if it had been abandoned for almost a decade. It reminded me of the decay one could see in Pripyat. Plants grew in between the cracks of the road and sidewalk. The concrete facades had black soot sparsely covering them. Most of the windows were shattered, the shops and other buildings were vacant. I continued to move up the main street until I was greeted with what appeared to be a suburban area. These houses did not share the brutalist look of the rest of the city. Instead, they appeared to be of a renaissance architecture. They too, shared the decrepit uncleanliness of the rest of the city. There were no signs to be found anywhere, however, one could see areas in which signs may have once been mounted. Eventually, I found a building that looked secure enough and secluded enough. I settled down at the topmost floor and passed out almost immediately. I didn't even feel pain as my head hit the hard concrete floor.

I woke to the sound of an engine rumbling outside of the building. I sat up to look outside the window I was sleeping next to. The time was at least noon, the weather was even worse than yesterday's. I looked down and was horrified by the sight. Two large APC like vehicles were parked across the street, each had a large caliber cannon sticking of of a small turret. Twenty or so humanoid looking entities stood around the area. From what I could tell, they were at least 230 centimeters tall. They were fully armored in what looked like steel plates. I was not able to tell if they were living creatures, drones or a combination of both. Each one was carrying some kind of rifle. They're eyes glowed a bluish color. On the side of their heads looked to be some kind of flashlight and laser pointer. Two of each then broke off from the formation and began to enter the buildings across the street from mine. I was frantically packing my things, ready to make my escape. I checked my pistol and discovered I only had ten rounds left. My pistol was a survival pistol designed for pilots in the late 2080s. It uses a combination of cordite propellant and electromagnetic coils to accelerate a 12 millimeter steel dart at 1000 meters per second. This old pistol was more than adequate for dealing with small drones, but I sincerely doubt it will do much damage to whatever is out there.

Just as I was about to leave, a hail of energetic gunfire came from the streets below. I hit the ground immediately, however, I soon realized that they were not firing at me. I peaked out over the window and saw a huge squad of the humanoid drones firing down the street at an unseen enemy. Suddenly, a rocket careened down the block and hit one of the APC's right in the turret. The turret immediately blew off and flew almost ten meters into the air and a fire soon ensued. Another rocket came hurling toward the second APC, this time hitting it in the hull. Thick black smoke bellowed from the rear of the vehicle. Soon after, some sort of hatch was opened on the front, and another humanoid drone emerged from the flaming interior. The squad continued firing down the street, and one by one they were picked off from afar. I saw this as the perfect diversion to make my escape. I hurried down the stairwell and out the back door. As I turned, I saw two humanoids with their backs turned to me hurrying into the fray. One of them stopped, turned around and saw me. I quickly drew my pistol and shot them both in their backs multiple time, much to my surprise, they both dropped dead. I began to run away from the skirmish and into a some kind of stormdrain. The pipe was narrow, dark and smelled of mold. After a half an hour, I emerged from the drain to see if I could continue on foot rather than in a sewer. I carefully crept over to the street where the earlier skirmish had taken place. All of the drones were killed. A light smoke still continued to bellow from the two destroyed APC's. As I turned the corner of one of the exterior walls, I was greeting with a shocking sight. I only got a brief look of it before running in the opposite direction. From what I could tell, it was bipedal and wore some kind of camouflaged jacket and pants. I could tell it had some kind of fur coat along with ears protruding from it's head. It's face was eerily similar to that of a canine. I couldn't tell what color it's fur was, either teal or light green. Perhaps it was the same species as the corpse I discovered many weeks ago? It was tall, at least my height, it also was carrying some kind of rifle. As I ran, I turned back to check if this creature was pursuing me, all it did was stand there, staring at me as I ran like away like a maniac.

After running for nearly two city blocks, I lost sight of the creature. I walked back about a hundred meters and it was nowhere to be seen. Exhausted from the running, I went to a nearby building to rest. I opened the door and began walking down a tiled hallway. I was startled by the door behind me opening again. I immediately drew my pistol and turned around and saw the creature that had startled me earlier. I pointed the pistol at it and yelled, "Who are you!? What do the hell do you want from me!?"

The creature raised its hands in the air and said in a calm, quavering voice, "Hey, take it easy, I'm not here to hurt you."

"How do I know that!? Huh!? How do I know you aren't lying to me!? Who are you!? What are you!?"

"I would ask you the same thing." replied the creature.

"Whatever! That's beside the point! I want to know who you are and what you want from me! I want to know why I have had an entire army chase me through the fucking streets! Tell me goddamnit!"

"Please, put the weapon down and calm yourself. We can explain everything everything to you if you just calmly follow me…"

"Follow you!?" I replied intensely, "You must think I'm fucking stupid! Listen here, you've got ten seconds! Ten fucking seconds to start explaining things before I blow your ugly fucking head off!"

"Woah, hold on…"

"One!"

The creature looked at me in horror. It tried to gesture at me, but I simply ignored it.

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Four!"

"We aren't trying to hurt you! We are trying to help you! If you kill me…" desperately replied the creature.

"Five!"

"You don't understand! If I tell you in here, it could compromise…" yelled the creature.

"Six!"

"Seven!"

"If you kill me they will come after…" frantically yelled the creature.

"Eight!"

"Nine!"

"Please!" screamed the creature in horror.

"Ten!"

I lined up my pistol to get a clear shot of his head. My aim was impeccable. It stood there, frozen with fear, just like a deer in the headlights. All I had to do was pull the trigger.


End file.
